Heartbeat
by AAnitab
Summary: Did anyone else notice that every character in “Ninja Assassin” with a “Special Heart” survived being stabbed in the chest? The Kiriko in my head noticed and decided that she was a third time’s a charm situation. Now Father's dead, it’s safe to go home.
1. Pain

Title: Heartbeat

Author: AnitaB

Author's note: Did anyone else notice that every character in "Ninja Assassin" with a "Special Heart" survived being stabbed in the chest? The Kiriko in my head noticed and decided that she was a third time's a charm situation. Now that Father is dead, it's safe to go home. Kiriko/Raizo romance to follow.

Rating: k+ for violence, I guess. May change to something more graphic later.

Heartbeat

By AnitaB

Chapter one: Pain

In her life, she had known pain. From her earliest memories and in all its wide variety of flavors. She had felt the purely physical ache of old and new injuries mingling. She had felt the burn of her own blood boiling in her veins. She had felt the sudden crack of her own bones breaking and the ragged tearing of her own skin. More painful still, she had felt the sharp, deep stab of losing yet another little piece of her soul.

But nothing, nothing at all in her entire life with Father or before him had prepared her for this moment. Nothing compared to the pain she felt at the realization that Raizo was going to be forced to watch her die. Nothing in the whole world or hell itself could match the pain she could see in his eyes. From the first day she'd seen him, Kiriko had tried to help him, to ease the pain that Father brought to all his children.

Today she would be the cause of his pain instead of his shelter. That knowledge hurt more than the ropes biting into her skin, more than the bruises, cuts, and broken bones of the fight that had brought her down to be carried back. It hurt more than anything Father had ever done to her, than anything he was about to do to her. Kiriko was certain of it.

Like she had told Raizo over the bonsai tree in its wired cage, Father could never touch her heart. But Raizo could. He had touched her heart with his concern, acceptance, and the dark, uncertain heat in his eyes. Raizo could break her heart with the gentle touch of his lips and the sound of her name. Right now he was doing exactly that with only the helpless tightening of his muscles and the tight lock of his eyes to her face. //Raizo,\\

She knew who Father was going to give the honor of her execution to before he called him forward. Takeshi would enjoy her death, enjoy causing pain to Raizo. He had always hated them both, her for her defiance and Raizo for beating him out in Father's eyes. His heart was cruel and always had been. Takeshi would not miss. He would not hesitate. He would not regret spilling even a drop of her blood. He would watch his enemy's face as he killed her, just to feel even more of their combined pain.

As the tip of the sword buried itself in her chest, Kiriko heard her own scream and felt Raizo's pain as if he were screaming out loud with her. She fell into the pain, hearing her heart race and then slow, feeling the ropes bite into her slumping body, tasting the copper of her own blood in the back of her throat. As the darkness closed over her head, Kiriko clung to the sight of his face, the memory of his kiss, and the sound of his heart beating strong.

She hated leaving him alone like this, but there wasn't anything she could do about it.

000

He could hear her heart. He almost always could. Anytime that Kiriko was within his sight, and the entirety of his year spent blindfolded, he was always listening to the rhythmic thump-thump of her heart. The sound was normally his shelter, his safety and his home. Right now the rush and beat of her heart in his ears was panicked, running as fast and unevenly as his own. //Kiriko,\\

Father had found her, hurt her, and brought her home to die. Raizo could still feel the soft warmth of her lips against his own, could still taste the rain on his tongue from the night she had climbed the compound wall and fled. Now, Father had ordered her tied standing to the pillar in the courtyard. The beautiful girl, whose hands, face, and voice were the only soft thing in his world, who had stood strong and defiant in the box, was broken. She slumped into the hard grip of the ropes around her, her eyes missing the spark that had warmed him for years.

He should have gone with her. Maybe together they could have truly escaped, could have made themselves a life outside these walls.

But he didn't. He had been more afraid of what was beyond that wall than of failing Father. This life of combat and training were all he knew. The pain was familiar, something he could survive and control. And now he couldn't move a muscle, couldn't get the body he controlled utterly to act at all.

He knew what was coming. Father was always very clear about the rules. //Weakness compels strength. Betrayal begets blood.\\ But Kiriko wasn't weak. She was stronger than all of them. It was her edge of compassion, of heart, that made her so much stronger. She hadn't betrayed them, she'd been true to herself. The heart he could always hear beating knew how she was supposed to grow.

This wasn't it. Takeshi strode forward eagerly to take the sword from Father's hand. He looked at Raizo with a dark joy in his eyes and plunged the blade into her chest.

Raizo heard that heart race in panic and stutter. And stop. His ears rang with the sound of her helpless cry followed by the most horrible silence he'd ever heard. //Kiriko,\\

It felt like his heart stopped in his chest. He only hoped it would.

000


	2. New Lives, new homes

Heartbeat

By AnitaB

Chapter two: New Lives, new homes

It was dark, quiet, and still. The place she was in held no pain, no time, no breath. Just a patient sense of something unfinished. It felt good to rest, to sink inside herself with no fear, no reason to run. It was so peaceful here.

Impact, ten times worse than any blow to the chest covered every inch of her body at the same instant. The pain jerked her out of the dark, peaceful place and immersed her in trembling, roiling ice.

Cold, no air, no ground, just chaos and tumbling. Her hands clawed for something to hold onto, but the cold had no form, nothing to clench her fingers around, nothing to stop herself from falling endlessly through this cold hell. //Is this what death is like?\\

On the next toss, her hands broke the surface and somehow the air was even colder than the water. Her fingers closed over something rough and hard. And stable. Kiriko forced her body to move, climbing weakly up the tangle of tree roots until her head rested against the water-soaked wood. Now she could feel her heart racing and her lungs gratefully dragged in a breath of air. She was alive, clinging to an old tree at the edge of a river.

She was cold, wet, bleeding, and all alone. But she was alive and she was free.

And best of all, Father thought she was dead or he wouldn't have ordered her 'body' dumped in the river outside the compound walls.

As soon as she could drag herself completely out of the water, Kiriko was going to begin a whole new life. As soon as she could walk…

A sound sent her hand flinching for the weapons that were no longer hidden in her clothing before her arm stopped mid-motion. Letting go of the root had caused her body to slide a little lower into the water.

Words that had been trained out of her for over ten years found their way to her tongue. Weakness was not something Father had allowed in his house. "Please, help me."

Kiriko turned her head, but kept her hands tight in the tangled roots. Before her eyes was an old couple. The man had put the woman behind him and held a walking stick out in the worst position for defense that she had ever seen. On the ground behind the two of them was a hand-cart full of fruits and vegetables.

They weren't Ozunu. They were… normal people. "Please, help me. I am injured. I was attacked…" If she told them about Father, he would see them dead. "By bandits. Please…" It was so hard to hold on and she could feel her fingers going numb.

Just before her grip loosened, Kiriko felt hands grab her wrists, felt the jerky slide of her body up the bank and free of the water. The old woman wrapped a blanket around her shoulders while the man grabbed water off the hand-cart. "Here, drink this."

She wrapped shaking hands around the cup held out for her. More words she hadn't been allowed to say in years made it to her lips. There was no gratitude in Father's house. "Thank you."

000

He could hear her heart. He almost always could in that hazy place between sleeping and waking. Despite his years of training to wake instantly and be fully aware and ready to act, Raizo now clung to those few moments of timeless warmth filled with the memory of her heartbeat. But before too long, as with every morning, the rhythmic thumping faded to leave him alone with the sounds of city life outside his window.

It was only after that moment that Raizo rolled out of bed and started his daily routine. Even with Father dead at his hands, even with the Ozunu clan dead or scattered to the winds, he still completed a full practice every single day. Raizo pushed himself hard enough that his own heart echoed in his ears, but it didn't sound the same. Not even Mika's heart had really sounded like Kiriko's, and that was the closest he'd heard in years.

//Kiriko,\\ He slowly lowered his tensed arms to his sides, weapons held limply in sweaty fingers. His mind directly disobeyed him by dragging out the painful and detailed memories of the last time he'd seen her face. His brave, stubborn girl standing in pain and tied to the pillar in Father's courtyard. Himself, mere feet away, standing bound to the ground under his feet only by fear, the same fear that had kept him inside these same walls instead of following her eyes and her lips up and over that boundary.

He should have gone with her, should have moved his feet and stopped Takeshi, should have done something… anything to save her. That was why he maintained his training. Raizo couldn't go back in time and change his actions on that day, but he would make absolutely certain that he was ready to act if life brought him to a similar place, another chance to save the brave girls of the world from men like Father.

Like Mika. Raizo felt the flicker of a smile cross his lips, remembering the look on Ryan's face when he learned that Mika was going to live. To be the person responsible for that look on his face calmed just a little of his own guilt. Ryan would never know what it felt like to lose a brave girl he loved, a girl with a special heart.

It made the pounding of his own heart worth every beat echoing in his ears, every scar, every drop of sweat and blood. He should go visit Mika and Ryan again in the hospital today. They should be getting released as early as tomorrow.

With a flicker of a smile, Raizo reached for the throwing stars at his belt and bullseyed the target without looking at it. Maybe he'd get to tease the agent about falling for his forensic researcher. That was always fun.

000


	3. Healing Nicely

Heartbeat

By AnitaB

Chapter three: Healing nicely

Her wounds had healed, but as with all injuries they had left scars. Kiriko saw the shopkeeper's eyes flick downward and realized that her collar had slipped. Most people reacted oddly at the sight of the thick white scar where her heart should have been. Setting the food on the counter, she straightened the shirt and reached for the money and shopping list in her pocket. Her eyes went cold, absolutely not inviting the question on his face. "I also need… my grandfather's prescription, but there was no one at the pharmacy counter."

"Of course, miss, if you'll wait right here."

Kiriko nodded, calculating the total as her eyes flicked to the TV left on by the shopkeeper's chair. "Interpol isn't saying much about the causes of the raid, but they are announcing its success by citing the capture of several suspects in a mercenary ring. The compound behind me, the site of the raid, was apparently the training ground for the assassins behind the most famous political deaths of the last century."

Her heart stopped in her chest. Kiriko knew that compound, even through the layers of ash, smoke and rubble disguising it. She'd spent more of her life there than anywhere she could remember, most of those years miserable beyond belief. "Interpol is also reporting the deaths of several agents, while most of the injured are recovered enough to be released from the hospital in the next few days. Agent Maslow, you led the raid, what can you tell us about the criminal organization you discovered?"

A light haired man glared at the microphone in his face like he wanted to shoot the reporter holding it. "I can't tell you anything about the raid. Like I said before you turned on the camera, it's an ongoing investigation. Now if you don't mind, I have agents in the hospital to check on."

Ozunu. Someone had taken out Father's compound, scattered his children to the winds. The light haired man glared back at the camera one last time before climbing into the back of a military van. There, inside in the shadows, Kiriko saw… //No, it can't be.\\ Suddenly, the TV held every ounce of her attention as the camera-man angled the lens through the closing doors. //It is… Raizo.\\ Raizo was in that van with Interpol. He had been in the raid that burned Father's house to the ground. He was the only one strong enough or good enough to take out Father himself.

It took all her self-control to stand quietly at this cash register and wait for the prescription. This was the last run into town that she would be making for her adopted family for quite some time. Kiriko would need to tell them goodbye before she went… it wasn't home, but the closest thing she'd known to one before the old couple had installed her on their family farm and named her granddaughter. She would have to ask their closest neighbor to keep an eye on them for a little while. Grandmother and Grandfather might need help while she was gone.

There were arrangements to be made before she tracked down this Agent Maslow. Then he would help her find Raizo.

000

He hated hospitals. For so many reasons that it would be pointless to try to list them all. But right now, Ryan hated hospitals because he had to leave Mika's side in order to smoke. And good holy God, he needed the nicotine enough to make himself move from her bedside every now and then. On their first day in this damned hospital, one of the nurses had taken pity on him and shown him the back exit to an alley just down the hall from her room. It made the breaks a little shorter. No one was ever giving that nurse a traffic ticket again.

Ryan shoved the alley door open with an elbow, already lighting the cigarette with his other hand. The flame shook just a little with the slight breeze outside. Closing his eyes for the first sip of sweet smoke in hours, he leaned against the alley wall and found a balance between rushing and enjoying the cigarette. He wanted to get back to Mika as soon as possible.

"Agent Maslow?"

His hand was already halfway to his gun before his eyes opened to search the alley for the source of the voice. It took the couple of seconds he needed to pull his gun to locate because the small, feminine form wasn't standing nearby. She was crouched above his head on the edge of the fire escape railing. Dressed all in black even to the mask he knew and hated. "Goddammit, I hate when you people do that." Shoving the gun back into his holster, Ryan glared up at the ninja woman. If she was here to kill him, he'd already be dead, so he might as well give her a piece of his mind.

"You people?" Her head tilted and he would swear under oath that she was smiling even though he couldn't see enough of her face to tell for sure. "Who is it that you think I am?"

"If we're talking, get down here and stand like a normal person. If you're about to attack me, I'd like to finish my cigarette first." Ryan glanced around and didn't see anyone else. But with the Nine Clans, that didn't mean there weren't any others. "Well, Ninja Assassin, am I about to die or have a friendly chat?"

The figure shifted, moving down the complicated metal railings in a catlike graceful slide. "If I wanted you dead, I wouldn't have come alone. And you would never have known I was here at all." Her feet hit the ground soundlessly and her head angled in its mask. He could feel the smile inside her mask. "Not that I couldn't kill you where you stand all by myself. We people possess many skills."

"So are you Ozunu or one of the other Nine Clans?" Since he wasn't about to die apparently, he was going to finish his cigarette. When this little tete-a-tete was over, Ryan needed to get back to Mika.

"I used to be. But that was long ago." The woman was careful to leave her hands visible and leaned with a sense of fake relaxation against the opposite wall. "Is Father really dead? Are his children dead or scattered?"

There was something in her voice. Yes, this woman had been one of Father's children, one of his pet assassins working for one hundred pounds of gold. But something had separated her from the Family, something like what had separated Raizo from them. "Yes, they are. I examined Father's body myself. What was left of it."

Her body went still, but somehow he could read the relief in her every line. "And Raizo?"

Ryan smiled inside, but fought to keep it off his face. He had seen the way Raizo looked at his Mika, had seen the pride and concern in the man for strong women. This was it. This woman was someone very, very important to the former assassin. And Ryan couldn't wait to watch this happen. "Is not dead. In fact he's usually in Mika's room when I come back after having a cigarette. He seems to think we need a ninja bodyguard right now. He's with one of us almost all the time." He took the last drag of his cigarette before grinding the butt out under his heel. Ryan stepped forward and held out a hand. "I'm Ryan Maslow. What's your name?"

Her eyes hesitated before she met him in the middle of the alley to shake his hand. "My name is Kiriko. It is very nice to meet you, Ryan."

000


	4. Keeping Company

Heartbeat

By AnitaB

Chapter four: Keeping Company

Mika couldn't help but smile. Even now, Raizo never came into her room by the door. Usually she simply looked up expecting it to be Ryan back from his smoke break and there the ninja would be. "You do know that you're allowed to come in the door, right?"

He simply gave her that gentle twist of a smile, mostly in his voice and sat in Ryan's chair to take her hand. "But what fun would that be?"

"So how long until Ryan gets back? Since you track us both like a hawk." Mika didn't struggle against his grip but felt no guilt in trying to get a rise out of him.

"About two minutes, I'd say. Just long enough to change his smell." He gave her that little smile and stroked calloused fingertips over the back of her hand. "He doesn't like to leave you alone. Very protective man."

"Yeah, keep teasing. You know he's my boss." She believed it when she said it, but even she knew without a shadow of a doubt that Ryan was more to her than that.

"A very good boss to investigate Ninjas and follow you all the way to China. Very understanding of him." It was amazing how much their personal Ninja could put into his voice and his face without even changing expression. "You should figure out a way to thank him for that."

"Raizo!"

"Raizo," The second voice saying his name made Mika look up with a smile. She could feel the man in question lift her hand and brush smiling lips over the back of her fingers. Ryan was back, of course she was smiling and Raizo was teasing. It was the norm. "Get out of my chair… again."

"Of course, Agent Maslow. Just keeping our Mika here company while you were gone." Raizo stood and faced the agent in the doorway.

She loved it when Ryan smiled just like that, but it was always a sign of something coming. "How interesting. I've brought someone to help keep you company. She found me outside." Ryan stepped further into the room in time with the sudden tension in every line of Raizo's body. "Mika, this is---"

"Kiriko," The woman hadn't even crossed the doorjam before Raizo was inches in front of her, one hand on her heart and the other cupping her face. "How can this be?"

"I told you, Raizo, that Father could never touch my heart." Mika couldn't help a smile at the look on the woman's face. She knew what that expression felt like from the inside, envied her the ability to reach out and touch the man that inspired it. Kiriko's fingers shook, but they spread out to rest against Raizo's heart.

Ryan smiled, too, finally crossing the room to take his chair and her hand. Maybe she could reach out for someone too.

The man she'd watch fight with strength and grace after injuries that would have killed anyone else collapsed to his knees at Kiriko's feet. He wrapped both arms tight around her waist and clutched fistfuls of her clothes in trembling fingers. With a low, harsh sound Raizo buried his face against her heart. "Kiriko,"

"I'm here, Raizo. I'm right here. I'm safe and alive. Can you hear it?" Kiriko's fingers ran through his hair, holding him closer against her ribs.

"I could always hear you. Even when I knew you were gone." His face angled up to give Kiriko his eyes. "Kiriko, I thought I'd lost you, but I could still hear your heart."

She'd never heard anything like that in Raizo's voice. Ever. Looking up at Ryan, Mika came to a decision of sorts. "Ryan, take me for a walk." Accepting his help out of the bed, she knew Raizo and Kiriko wouldn't notice them leave, even with the heightened Ninja senses. They had something far more important to focus on right now.

Leaning into the circle of Ryan's arm, Mika let herself cling a little closer than she should as they took a stroll through the hallways. "We're going to have to tease him mercilessly for this."

She loved the sound of his laughter. "Yes, Ryan, we will have lots to tease them both about."

000

"How interesting. I've brought someone to help keep you company. She found me outside." Raizo heard the teasing in that voice. But he also heard something else… something impossible. Something precious. "Mika, this is—"

"Kiriko," His body moved completely on its own. Before Raizo's heart had taken another beat, he found himself listening to her heart with one palm and holding her dear face in the other. "How can this be?"

"I told you, Raizo, that Father could never touch my heart." But he could. Here before him stood the miracle truth. Under his fingers he could feel both the scar of her wound and the heavenly rhythm of her heart. His Kiriko was here.

His knees went weak but he couldn't let her one inch out of reach. Raizo wrapped his arms around her tight and listened to the racing of her heart through her ribs. She still wasn't close enough and he found himself clutching at the fabric at her waist like he could pull her even an inch further into his arms. "Kiriko,"

"I'm here, Raizo. I'm right here. I'm safe and alive. Can you hear it?" Delicate fingers ran through his hair. Strong arms cuddled him closer against the heart he would never ever get enough of.

"I could always hear you. Even when I knew you were gone." Raizo needed her eyes, needed to see the face he believed he would only see in his dreams. She was so beautiful that she stole his breath. "Kiriko, I thought I'd lost you, but I could still hear your heart."

"Raizo," There were tears in her eyes, but no more than he could feel in his own. His Kiriko sank to her knees, not once losing contact. His arms helplessly pulled her even closer, until he could feel the warmth of her body against his own. "Because it was yours. My dear Raizo, this heart is yours." His hand was once again on her chest, fingers spread wide under the guidance of hers. "It's always been yours."

"Kiriko," He was not letting another chance with this precious woman, this special heart pass him by. Resting his forehead against hers, Raizo led her palm to the center of his chest. "And this heart has always been yours. My dear Kiriko." It felt like he'd been holding himself back from this his whole life. But there was no holding back anymore. Cupping her precious face in both hands, Raizo pulled her to him for a sweet, simple touch of lips. Just like the first kiss in the rain.

But she wasn't about to let him go. Strong hands fisted in his hair in the instant before Kiriko deepened this amazing kiss, giving him the warmth and sweet taste of her on his tongue. It wasn't enough. Raizo found his fingers sliding up the smooth heat of her back under her clothes. The trembling of her body in his arms made him break the kiss with a slow smile. "Raizo,"

"I'm here, Kiriko, I'm right here." He spread his fingers wide over her skin, pressing her closer against his chest. Raizo adored the feel and sound of her heart racing in perfect time with his. "I'm safe and alive and with you. Can you feel it?"

She smiled and laughed. Every nerve in his body responded to the sound of her laughter. Raizo had never heard anything so beautiful in his life. His every muscle fought to get her closer just to feel a little more of her. "Yes, I feel it. And I want more."

"Kiriko," He was completely helpless before the heat in her eyes, leaning forward for another taste of her kiss and the leap in her heartbeat against his own.

000


End file.
